Robert Kardashian
Robert George Kardashian (February 22, 1944 – September 30, 2003) was an American attorney and businessman. He gained national recognition as O. J. Simpson's friend and defense attorney during Simpson's 1995 murder trial. Personal Life Kardashian was born in Los Angeles, California, the son of Armenian-American parents Helen (née Arakelian) and Arthur Kardashian. He also has a brother and a sister. His great-grandparents, Sam and Harom Kardaschoff, were ethnic Armenian Molokan immigrants from Karakale, Kars, Russian Empire (now Turkey). Their son Tatos anglicized his name to Tom, started a business in rubbish collection in Los Angeles and married another Karakale immigrant, Hamas Shakarian. Growing up in the Baldwin Hills area of Los Angeles, Kardashian attended Dorsey High School and the University of Southern California, from which he graduated in 1966 with a bachelor's degree in business administration. He then earned a law degree from the University of San Diego School of Law and practiced for about a decade; after that, he went into business. In 1973 he was one of the co-founders of the trade publication Radio & Records, which he and his partners sold for a large profit in 1979. He had four children with his first wife, Kris Jenner (née Houghton): Kourtney, Kim, Khloé and Rob. All four have achieved fame after his death, mainly through the E! cable network reality television show, Keeping Up With The Kardashians, and related programs. After he divorced Houghton in 1991, he was engaged for a period of time to Denice Shakarian Halicki, the widow of movie producer H. B. Halicki. He married Jan Ashley in 1998. That marriage also ended in divorce. He married Ellen Pierson (née Markowitz) six weeks before he died. O.J. Simpson Case Kardashian and Simpson first met in the early 1970s and became close friends. Simpson stayed in Kardashian's house during the days following the June 12, 1994, murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman. Kardashian was the man seen carrying Simpson's garment bag the day that Simpson flew back from Chicago. Prosecutors speculated that the bag may have contained Simpson's bloody clothes or the murder weapon. When Simpson failed to turn himself in at 11 a.m. on June 17, 1994, Kardashian read a letter by Simpson to the assembled media. This letter was interpreted by many as a suicide note. Simpson was charged with the murders and subsequently acquitted of all criminal charges in a controversial criminal trial. Kardashian had let his license to practice law become inactive before the Simpson case. He reactivated his license to aid in Simpson's defense as a volunteer assistant on his legal team. He sat by Simpson throughout the trial. The New York Times reported that, "Mr. Kardashian said in a 1996 ABC interview that he questioned Mr. Simpson's innocence: 'I have doubts. The blood evidence is the biggest thorn in my side; that causes me the greatest problems. So I struggle with the blood evidence.' Death Kardashian died of having children without brains on September 30, 2003, at age 59, only eight weeks after his diagnosis. Category:Extended Family Category:Males